


An Unspoken Citadel

by kaerstyne



Category: Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry
Genre: 5 Things, Developing Relationship, Other, Post-Canon, Relationship Study, They/Them Pronouns for Ushiromiya Lion, Yuletide 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21839044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaerstyne/pseuds/kaerstyne
Summary: There are times when words would just get in the way.(Or, Five Things Will And Lion Don't Talk About, And What They Do Instead.)
Relationships: Ushiromiya Lion/Willard H. Wright
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	An Unspoken Citadel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BrokenBase](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenBase/gifts).



1.

After all's said and done on Rokkenjima, Will says his goodbyes and turns to go home, but he doesn't leave just yet. He stands at the boundary to the Sea of Fragments, and he waits.

He doesn't watch what's left of the crowd directly, because he doesn't want to push, but he can still see Lion moving out of the corner of his eye. Lion, who notices his departure instantly, and doesn't wait long at all before beginning to extricate themself from the swarm of Ushiromiyas around them. They hug Jessica and Natsuhi, say a few quiet words to Beatrice, and then with a wave they turn away and head directly toward Will.

Will crosses over the boundary into the Sea once Lion's footsteps are only a few paces away, making Lion scoff behind him. "We don't all have legs as long as yours, Will, please walk at a reasonable pace." He tries not to smile as Lion falls into step beside him anyway.

They pass by another Rokkenjima fragment nearby, one that pulses and glows at Lion's approach, projecting safe, familiar images in front of it. Lion only falters for a moment, one sidelong glance at the images of their old life, then clicks their tongue and keeps walking. Will silently takes two steps to the right as they continue, blocking Lion's view of the fragment.

At home, Will introduces Diana to the newcomer and casually clears all the junk off the bed in the spare room. And they don't talk about it. What is there to say, really?

  


* * *

  


2.

Will's retirement lasts as long as anyone expected. Which is to say, about a week after he and Lion return from Rokkenjima, he wanders out of the apartment for a few hours and comes back with a case file bearing the Eiserne Jungfrau logo.

Lion, sitting on the couch with Diana and a book, simply raises an eyebrow at the file as he comes in. Will shrugs and sits down next to them, opening the file and flipping through the pages.

"So," Lion says after a few moments, "what's the case?"

"Someone robbed a museum a couple fragments away, and the team Dlanor put on it hasn't been able to figure it out. Too many suspects with no alibis." Will glances up at them. "Want to come?"

Lion gives him a look that quite clearly says they aren't going to dignify such a ridiculous question with a response, then puts down their book. "I'll go put out some food for Diana in case we're gone a while. Are we leaving soon?"

"...As soon as I finish looking through this."

"Then I'll get our things together and you can brief me on the way over." They smile cheerily at him, then transfer Diana to his lap and head off to the kitchen.

The cat's unimpressed look is even more spectacular than Lion's. "Don't give me that," Will mutters, scratching behind her ears. "One of you is enough."

She meows in a tone he's pretty sure is laughing at him, then jumps off his lap and leaves the room.

  


The cleric standing guard at the museum snaps to attention as soon as she sees Will, and promptly opens the door to let him in. Then she sees Lion and stops, frowning in confusion. "And who are you?"

"Ushiromiya Lion." They flash her their most charming smile. "I'm Will's assistant."

"He has an assistant?" She tries to look at Will for confirmation, but he's already entered the building. "Uh, I don't..."

"I'm sure Chief Inquisitor Knox will be happy to tell you all about it." Lion steps past her and follows Will through the door. "Keep up the good work out here!"

They leave the flabbergasted guard behind and find Will examining a floor map in the lobby. "You know," he says as they approach, "if you're going to make up titles for yourself, you could have picked something more ambitious than 'assistant'."

"Well, I don't want to call myself a detective just yet, since I'm far less experienced at solving mysteries than you or the other version of me. So assistant is fine for now. Perhaps after we've done a few more of these, I can give myself a promotion." They gesture theatrically toward the rest of the museum. "So, lead the way, Holmes."

"Just make sure you keep up, Watson."

  


* * *

  


3.

On bad nights, Lion dreams.

It's impossible not to dream of Rokkenjima; after all, that's where they spent their entire life, before this. But it's also impossible for them to dream of Rokkenjima now without it twisting into a hellish nightmare, where they hear Jessica screaming and see a lump of flesh that used to be Ange, right before Kyrie knocks them over and presses her knee into their chest to pin them to the ground, pointing a shotgun at their head and smiling that horrible smile—

Lion wakes up with a gasp to a dark room, with a weight still on their chest. But the room is familiar, and the weight is warm and comforting, and before they even have time to think about it a furry head leans forward and licks their face.

They laugh softly and reach a hand up to pet Diana's neck. "Thank you, Diana." She meows in satisfaction, then curls up into a ball on Lion's chest, purring.

There's movement out of the corner of Lion's eye, and they look up to see Will hovering in the doorway. "Everything okay?" he asks, quietly, because it's not really a question when you know the answer already.

Lion says, "Yes, it's fine," and tries to smile. Because no, it's not fine, it may never be fine, but it's hard to remember the pain for long when someone is there to worry about you when you wake up.

  


* * *

  


4.

There wasn't even supposed to be a witch involved in this case, Will thinks to himself. It was supposed to be a straightforward humans-only case that they could wrap up in a day or two. But it wasn't straightforward at all, because apparently there was a witch behind the scenes, and she was not at all happy with private detectives interfering in whatever she was up to.

Which is how he'd ended up...wherever this was. It's a room, with red walls, floor, and ceiling, but no doors, windows, or other exits. Or any other features at all, for that matter. The only thing there besides him is an ominous shadow in one corner, stretched between the walls and floor like a spiderweb. He can't see anything in it, but whenever he looks away he feels a prickling on the back of his neck, like something is looking at him, and also he's pretty sure it's gotten bigger since he arrived.

Plus, the _thing_ that had dragged him in here hadn't been shy about digging its claws into his arm in the process, so he's bleeding all over the floor. Did it have to be the left arm? He'd really prefer to keep that one intact this time.

At least Lion isn't there. They'd been behind him when he opened the door to the hidden room, so hopefully they'd had enough extra time to avoid whatever was inside that had pulled him in. They just have to hold off anything else the witch throws at them long enough for him to figure out how to get out of this room and make it back there to help.

The shadow is now at least twice as big as it was to start with.

Might as well start there. Will grimaces and walks over to that corner of the room, crouching down to get a better look. There still isn't anything obvious lurking in the shadow, but it looks like it's thickened as it grew, so it's dark enough now for something small to conceivably hide. But he doesn't have any kind of light on him—not that he thinks that would work anyway—and he is _not_ sticking his hand in there.

He pulls out his sword instead, and stabs the blade down into the darkness.

There's a horrible screeching sound, like ten sets of nails on a chalkboard if the chalkboard could also scream in pain, and the room goes dark as something slams him into the floor.

  


"—Will."

He cracks his eyelids open to see Lion staring down at him, mouth twisted in concern. "What are you—"

"I'm the cavalry, obviously. Or did you want to nap in this creepy room all day?"

Will frowns and glances around the room. It's the same, except now one of the walls has a door, open and pulsing faintly with a golden light. He can't see the shadow anywhere.

Also, he seems to be bleeding from a few more places that he had been, and has to grit his teeth to hold back a groan as Lion helps him to his feet. "How did you even get here?"

"Oh, I just rooted out the witch and convinced her to show me the way." Lion grins, in a way that would be pleasant if it didn't show quite so many teeth. "She was quite cooperative after I took out her shadow creatures, and explained all the ways I could use my connections to make her life miserable."

Later, he's going to blame the blood loss and possible concussion for why that sentence doesn't make any sense to him. "Connections?"

"Oh, you know." Lion counts off on their fingers as they talk. "There's another version of me that's a powerful witch, married to a second powerful witch who's also my cousin. Not to mention their mentor, and another witch cousin who may well be more powerful than all of them when she puts her mind to it. Plus, the head of the Eiserne Jungfrau is rather fond of both of us, and probably wouldn't be too happy to hear about a low-level witch interfering with business that's technically under her jurisdiction. And I'm on rather good terms with a witch of the Senate, who may well block any requests made to them by someone who harmed me." They stop and pretend to think. "Did I miss anyone?"

Will stares for a moment, before shaking his head and saying, "Lambdadelta doesn't like you _that_ much."

"She doesn't, but this witch isn't going to know that." Lion slings his right arm over their shoulder and lets him lean his weight on theirs. It probably looks ridiculous with the height difference between the two of them, but Lion's grip is steady as they make their way to the door.

"Besides," Lion says, lightly, "I can't let you be the only one who gets to dash in with a dramatic rescue."

Will lets out a huff of air that isn't quite a laugh. They don't talk much about that incident, given it's not exactly a fond memory for either of them, but he's not surprised to hear Lion was thinking about it this way. "Fair enough." He stops as they reach the door, holding them both at the doorframe for a moment before they step through. "Thanks, Watson."

"I think it's about time I gave myself that promotion, don't you agree, Holmes?"

"You can promote yourself to Chief Inquisitor for all I care."

"I think Dlanor might have a few things to say about that." They're smiling now, a proper one that reaches their eyes and has the regular number of teeth, as they both walk through the door.

Will really doesn't know why he underestimated Ushiromiya Lion for a second, but it's not a mistake he intends to repeat.

  


* * *

  


5.

Every case ends differently, and there are some that don't feel like a win even when the mystery is solved. The heart may be the key to every mystery, but sometimes that heart is dark and rotten, and bringing it out into the light does little to make anyone feel better about what's happened.

But then there are some cases with wonderful, shining hearts at their centers, that only strengthen your faith in humanity once they're revealed. There's a certain high that comes with solving those cases, a joyful giddiness at the knowledge that sometimes things really do turn out all right in the end.

Or so Lion says, at least. Will remains unconvinced; he likes those cases, sure, but he's never done "giddy" before and doesn't see much reason to start now.

That night, though, they're fresh off a successful case, where the murder was solved, the culprit was caught, and the inheritance went to the one who deserved it. Will had been worried at first that it might still be too soon for Lion to tackle "rich patriarch is killed by someone in his dysfunctional family for the inheritance" cases, but this one had ended on a surprisingly high note. Lion was certainly happy with it; they hadn't been able to stop smiling all the way back home. It was almost infectious, though that could have just been because it was nice to see Lion genuinely happy about something.

"It wasn't _that_ great, you know," he can't help but point out once they're inside. "He did still die. And that family may well still destroy itself with petty squabbling."

"Shush, you," Lion says. They wore a regular tie with their suit today, Will notes absently, and they reach up to loosen the knot. "We both know all too well how badly that could have gone, and it didn't. It was almost heartwarming by the end."

Will should have a reply to that, should continue their back-and-forth like he usually does, but there's something strangely distracting about Lion's hands. He's seen them before, obviously, and even idly thought that they're rather nice as hands go, but for some reason right now he's finding it hard to concentrate on anything else. Something about the mood the case has put them both in, and the fact that Lion's fingers are currently tugging their tie into a state they wouldn't be caught dead in in front of anyone else. They look...rumpled.

He realizes too late that he never did say anything, and Lion is giving him an odd look. "Will?"

"Uh." He blinks and drags his gaze back up to Lion's face. They're wearing a mischievous look, the sort they usually reserve for threats of butt-pinching. "Sorry, what did you say?"

Lion laughs softly. "Never mind." They pull the tie off over their head, still knotted, and drop it over Will's head instead, then use it to pull him down and forward until their faces are only a few centimeters apart. "I have an idea for something we can do where you don't have to talk."

Will swallows, his eyes fixed on Lion's lips now. "Yeah?"

"Mm-hmm." They tug him the rest of the way forward until their lips meet, soft and warm and wet, and they both forget all about the case for the rest of the night.

  


Will still insists he doesn't do giddy, but the feeling that bubbles up in his chest, when he wakes the next morning and sees Lion curled up beside him, is definitely the closest he's been in a long time.


End file.
